


You're My Best Friend (And I Love You): The Story of Chelen

by magsamost



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band), the seventeen family singers
Genre: Backstory, F/M, Girl!Jeonghan, Kid!Jeonghan, Origin Story, Original Character(s), Original Universe, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Other, Suburban AU, jeongcheol - Freeform, kid!Helen, kpop, seventeen suburban AU, tumblr AU blog
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-05
Updated: 2017-01-28
Packaged: 2018-09-06 14:40:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8756560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magsamost/pseuds/magsamost
Summary: Fic based on my seventeen suburban AU: theseventeenfamilysingers Backstory of Helen (Jeonghan) and Charles (Seungcheol). Classic boy/girl next door.





	1. 1.5 Years Old

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Couple [Delia and Jennifer](http://theseventeenfamilysingers.tumblr.com/post/149869420289/so-who-and-how-are-the-grandparents-btw-this) go to an orphanage to adopt a child and there they meet [Helen](http://theseventeenfamilysingers.tumblr.com/post/148179238654/character-introduction-helen).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Characters featured in this chapter: [Delia & Jennifer](http://theseventeenfamilysingers.tumblr.com/post/149869420289/so-who-and-how-are-the-grandparents-btw-this) and [Helen](http://theseventeenfamilysingers.tumblr.com/post/148179238654/character-introduction-helen)

Delia and Jennifer stood outside the orphanage, scanning each other's’ faces to make sure their makeup was perfect. Their outfits were impeccable, immaculately tailored with warm colors, ideal for the autumn season. They always made sure their ensembles were complementary, not matching, they were individuals after all. Jennifer licked her thumb and smoothed down a rogue strand of hair escaping from Delia’s otherwise perfect updo, and nodded. In perfect synchronicity they turned towards the huge wooden doors and climbed the stone steps, the clacking of their heels echoing through the empty courtyard.

As they entered the building, they wrinkled their noses at both the musty smell and the sound of shouting children. An older woman hurried over to them, thin grey hair hanging completely straight at the sides of her head, the opposite of Jennifer’s feathered, blonde locks.

“Hello! I’m Mrs. Stewart. You must be the women I spoke to on the phone yesterday!” she said, hand held out in greeting.

“Yes, I’m Jennifer and this is Delia.” She looked at the outstretched hand, but didn’t shake it, doubtful of it’s cleanliness.

“Yes, well… Right this way to the nursery, ladies!” The two women followed Mrs. Stewart up the stairs, walking gingerly on the creaky steps. “At the present we have five children of the age you specified, and three are girls.” Jennifer and Delia had specifically asked for a girl below the age of two. They wanted a baby so they could completely raise it to be just like them, and god knows they couldn’t deal with a boy.

The old woman stopped in front of a white door with handpainted pastel butterflies, and turned around, pressing her finger to her lips, warning the women behind her to stay quiet in case the young ones were sleeping. The couple rolled their eyes at each other when the door made a loud creak as it opened, rendering the warning useless.  
As soon as they stepped in a young woman hurried over to them. 

“Oh Mrs. Stewart I was just about to get you!” Her eyes were panicked.

“What’s the matter, Amy?” Stewart responded calmingly.

“It’s little Helen, ma’am, she did it again”

At that moment they all turned their heads to the toddler standing in front of a crib filled to the brim with teddy bears. 

Amy turned to her, took a deep breath and, in a tone not too far away from begging, said “Helen, sweetie, we’ve talked about this, the church donated those to us so every kid can have one, you can’t take all of them”

The girl planted her feet, and, with her hands on her hips defiantly, said, “Mine.” Steely eyes meeting the pleading gaze of the young woman head on.

“I’m sorry about this,” Ms.Stewart said, turning to Delia and Jennifer. “Helen has always been very smart, and has developed her speaking and motor skills much quicker than the other children, but she seems to have also developed a bit of…an attitude”

The elegant couple looked at each other, and then back at Ms. Stewart.

“We’ll take her.” They said in unison.


	2. 3 Years Old

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Boy meets girl! 
> 
> WARNING: ALL FLUFF. SO MUCH FLUFF YOU WILL SUFFOCATE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Characters featured in this chapter: [Harvey & Sandra](http://theseventeenfamilysingers.tumblr.com/post/149869420289/so-who-and-how-are-the-grandparents-btw-this), [Delia & Jennifer](http://theseventeenfamilysingers.tumblr.com/post/149869420289/so-who-and-how-are-the-grandparents-btw-this), [Helen](http://theseventeenfamilysingers.tumblr.com/post/148179238654/character-introduction-helen), and [Charles](http://theseventeenfamilysingers.tumblr.com/post/148179403204/character-introduction-charles)

Helen was playing with her dolls out in the front yard when she saw a large truck go by and park in front of the house next door. It was followed by a smaller green car that she thought was very ugly. The ugly car parked in the driveway and two grown-ups got out of the front seat. She heard her moms talking behind her. Apparently the man and woman were wearing clothes that were “outdated” and the colors “clashed.” Helen didn’t know what those words meant but she decided that they were probably negative. She agreed, the people were dressed in ugly clothes, not like the pretty dresses her parents wore.

“Time to introduce ourselves” Delia said, and Jennifer went into the kitchen and brought out the perfect apple pie she had baked in preparation. “Come on Helen, let’s go meet the new neighbors”

“Make sure you stand up straight, smile, and shake their hands politely”

Helen rolled her eyes. Her moms said the same thing before they met anyone. It’s what they call “making a good impression.”

The trio strutted down the sidewalk and approached the couple, who were now reaching into the back seat, but turned around when they heard the footsteps behind them. 

“Hello!” Jennifer said cheerfully, no traces of the judgemental tone from before. “My name is Jennifer, this is my partner Delia, and this is our beautiful daughter, Helen.” Helen smiled brightly and held out her hand.

“Hello Helen!” The woman said, shaking her tiny hand.

“What nice neighbors!” The man said with a bit of a weird tone in his voice. Helen had heard people use that tone around her parents before, but she never knew why. “How old are you, young lady?” He said to Helen.

“Three years old” She said holding up three fingers to demonstrate, in case these new people didn’t know how to count. After all, Helen had only learned a year ago and she considered herself to be almost a grown up.

“Oh how perfect!” The woman said, “Our son Charles is the same age!” She reached back into the car and pulled out a confused looking little boy.

“How cute!” Delia said “I’m sure they’ll get along great!”

“Oh how rude of us!” The neighbor woman exclaimed. “We haven’t even introduced ourselves yet! My name is Sandra and this is my husband, Harvey. Why don’t you come inside so you can put down that beautiful pie.” She turned to the children “You be a good boy, Charles and play out here with Helen” Charles nodded, he hadn’t said anything since his mom had put him down. As the adults started to walk towards the house, Jennifer leaned down and whispered in Helen’s ear.

“Remember, Darling, make a good impression,” and with that she righted herself and turned to follow the rest of the grown ups.

Helen looked at the boy in front of her and held out her hand to him with a big smile across her face.

“Nice to meet you, Charles. My name is Helen.” Charles looked at her hand like it’s the first one he had ever seen. Helen sighed and grabbed his hand “You shake it, like this.” She said, and shook it vigorously. “And you have to smile!” She scolded. Then she leaned in and said softly, as if she was telling a secret “My moms call it ‘making a good impression.’ You have to do it even if you don’t like someone. But I like you, Charles!” She said definitively, “And you will be my friend.”

Charles finally smiled. “Ok” he said “I never had a friend before.” 

Helen smiled and looked down at their still joined hands. She thought about telling him that you’re supposed to let go after you shake someone’s hand, but she decided she didn’t really mind. Instead she turned around and pulled him towards her yard.

“Come on! I’m going to show you my toys!” She said. She was smiling for real now, not just to give a good impression. Charles returned her smile fully.

“Wait!” He said, and he let go of her hand. He ran back to the car and climbed inside. Helen was about to protest when he climbed back out holding a dandelion. “This is for you. It’s from my old house.” He said, holding it out to her. “You can put it in your hair” She smiled wider and did as he said. Then she grabbed his hand again, giggling.


	3. 5 Years Old

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Helen and Charles start kindergarten and Helen doesn't like having to share Charles' affection

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Characters featured in this chapter: [Helen](http://theseventeenfamilysingers.tumblr.com/post/148179238654/character-introduction-helen) and [Charles](http://theseventeenfamilysingers.tumblr.com/post/148179403204/character-introduction-charles)

Helen walked up to her new school, with her matching backpack and lunchbox, white tights, shiny red shoes, and pretty purple dress. Her hair was pulled into perfect pigtails with glittery blue scrunchies, she felt like the prettiest girl in the world. When she got to the steps she stopped and turned around, looking for the ugly green car. She didn’t see it anywhere. Charles was going to be late to their first day of kindergarten if he didn’t hurry up! Her moms said Charles’ parents are “disorganized,” whatever that means.  
While she waited, Helen thought about the day to come. Her main goal was to make lots of new friends. Charles would always be her best friend, but he was also her only friend, and that was unacceptable. Her moms had tons of friends; they would come over for dinner and sit around and drink wine. There had to be at least 100 of them, Helen thought. “And I only have one” she said to herself. Well, two according to her parents, but unlike them, Helen doesn’t consider Monica to be her friend. How could she? You can’t be friends with a little squishy pink blob that cries all the time and can’t even talk. She scoffed audibly at the thought of her new baby sister.  
“There you are!” she exclaimed as Charles skipped towards her. “I’ve been waiting here forever!”   
He just laughed. “Are you excited?” he asked.   
“Of course I am. I’m probably going to have more than twenty friends by the end of the day!” She said, challenging him to disagree. But he didn’t.  
“Me too!” He said “I’m so excited to meet the other kids” Something about his desire to have other friends didn’t sit right with Helen. She narrowed her eyes but didn’t say anything. Instead her eyes drifted to the top of his head.  
“Look at your hair!” She said, shaking her head. She licked her thumb and smoothed out all the hairs that were sticking up. It’s something she’d seen her mothers do a million times.  
“Grosss!” Charles whined, flinching away. “Now your germs are all in my hair”  
“Well at least you look nice now” She did think he looked really nice, but she thought he looked nice all the time. She didn’t tell him that though.  
“You look nice too.” Charles said, blushing a little. Helen smiled and grabbed his hand, pulling him into the school. She wondered if he would ever get anywhere without her to ‘help’ him.

 

There ended up being only twelve kids in the class, so Helen’s goal of having twenty friends didn’t end up being realized. Still, by the time she left she had three playdates set up for that week. Helen had so much fun with her new friends and she made more and more every day. Soon enough she was having at least four playdates a week. Obviously, Charles was still her best friend, but in her effort to make as many new ones as possible she had to give up a lot of time she had previously spent with him.  
One day she looked out her window and saw Charles running around the yard with Cindy, a girl from their class. Cindy was pretty and nice and had beautiful blonde hair and Helen hated her. She just hadn’t realized she hated her until that exact moment. Despite her anger she managed to eat dinner with her family calmly and go up to her room to draw without letting on that she was upset.  
Unfortunately, later that evening, Charles came over to ask Delia and Jennifer if Helen could come out and play. They called up to her, but she said she was too tired, so he left.   
Five minutes later, there was a knock on her bedroom door. She opened it, assuming it was her mother coming to check on her, but she was wrong. Charles stood outside the door with a sleeping bag. “Your mom said you were too tired to come outside so I asked if I could sleep over and she said yes!” His smile stretched across his entire face. Helen couldn’t come up for a reason why not, so she let him in.   
She tried to sulk for the first ten minutes, but then decided that she would prefer interrogating Charles. “So I saw you playing with Cindy today” she said, in an accusatory tone.  
“Yeah! We played tag it was so fun!” He replied, unaware that was the wrong answer. But Helen kept her cool and kept prodding.  
“She’s really pretty” Helen said. “Don’t you think so?”  
“What?” Charles said “No! Don’t be weird!” Helen smiled to herself, content that at least Charles wasn’t going to marry Cindy and leave her behind by herself.  
“Oh! I almost forgot!” Charles said suddenly, making Helen jump a little.  
“What?” Helen said, exasperated but still curious as to what Charles was currently looking for in his pockets. Finally he grabbed on to something and a green stem started to emerge, followed by a yellow flower.  
“I think it’s the last one, he said, all the other ones are white now” He reached over and put the slightly wilted dandelion in Helen’s hair and she smiled. She was appeased for the moment. But, later that night as they were lying on the floor together trying to sleep, Helen asked charles if he wanted to go to the playground with her the next day. “I can’t” he said. “I have a playdate with Brian.” And with those words, Helen’s anger was back at full force. She turned over and pretended to fall asleep, but really she spent the whole night plotting a way to have Charles all to herself again.

 

 

“You can’t do this” Cindy said, looking at Helen angrily. “Charles is MY best friend”   
Helen’s glare deepened and she reached for the scissors on the table in front of them. “I told you, if you don’t stop talking to Charles, I will get you in trouble.”  
Cindy looked afraid but still wasn’t going to give in. “I will keep talking to him, he’s my friend!”  
Helen shook her head disapprovingly and brought the scissors down on to her own hand. “Ow!” She screamed exaggeratedly, holding up her now bleeding hand. “Ms. Patrick!” She had managed to force out some tears to add to the overall effect. The teacher rushed over to the table.  
“Oh my goodness! What is going on here?!”   
“Ms. Patrick!” Helen said making sounds as if she was trying to control her tears. “Cindy hurt me with the scissors!”   
“Cindy! Why would you do such a thing?” The teacher scolded. Cindy looked affronted to say the least.  
“I didn’t do it, Ms. Patrick! Helen did it to herself!”  
“Now why, Cindy, would Helen purposefully hurt her own hand?” Before she could answer Helen let out an exaggerated whimper, and Ms. Patrick turned her attention back to the injured girl. “Come now, let’s get you cleaned up.” Then she turned to Cindy angrily “I’ll deal with you later, young lady.”  
Helen spent the rest of her day making the rounds among all of Charles’ friends. None of them disagreed with her after she showed them her band-aid and recounted the aftermath of Cindy’s disagreement. By the end of the week, no one in the whole class wanted to play with Charles, and he didn’t know why.

 

 

Two weeks later, Helen and Charles were walking through the woods near their homes, deliberately crunching all the dry leaves they could beneath their little feet. Charles hadn’t been smiling very much lately, and he hadn’t laughed in at least ten days. Helen was worried. She had tried telling him jokes and making funny faces, but nothing worked. He wasn’t even putting his full energy into crunching the leaves, and everyone knows that Charles loves leaves.  
“Come on!” Helen said, “Jump with me!”  
Charles looked at the ground and frowned. “I don’t really feel like it.” Instead he just sat down with his back against a tree. Helen sighed and sat next to him.  
“What’s wrong?” she asked, even though she was pretty sure she already knew the answer. Charles’ frown deepened as he stared into the distance.  
“No one likes me.” He said, a small tear falling from his left eye. Seeing Charles cry made Helen’s heart feel very strange and she didn’t like it at all.  
“That’s not true!” She reassured him. “I like you!”  
“But nobody else does. Everyone has so many friends and they all play together, but no one wants to play with me. I think there’s something wrong with me.” At this point, tears were streaming down his round cheeks and he was sniffling. The feeling in Helen’s chest grew stronger, and it was starting to really hurt. She felt tears welling up in her own eyes. She had always vowed to never cry, it showed weakness, but now that vow was about to be broken.  
“Charles! Dinner!” Charles’ dad called out the door, saving Helen. Charles got up and slowly and started walking towards his house.  
“See you later, Helen.” It was barely audible over the sniffling. As Helen watched him walk away, she took in a sharp breath and started to hatch a new plan.

 

 

The very next day she approached Cindy, who glared at her defiantly, but Helen could see a twinge of fear behind it.   
“Charles is sad.” She said as she came to a stop in front of the other girl.  
“Probably because his only friend is a psycho” Cindy replied. Clearly Charles being sad wasn’t quite as catastrophic to her as it was to Helen.  
“Be his friend again” At this point Cindy knew not to argue with Helen, so she just nodded, although her eyes were still locked on Helen’s with a barely concealed rage.  
Again Helen made the rounds, eventually getting all of Charles’ friends back. By the next day he was smiling and laughing again as he played in the sandbox with his newly regained friends. Helen watched, conflicted. The pain in her chest had gone as soon as she had heard Charles’ laugh that morning, but the unsettling feeling that she had at the beginning of the year was rearing it’s head again. She decided that she’d just deal with it, it had to go away someday.   
Little did she know, she would become very familiar with that feeling, but she vowed never to make Charles sad again.


	4. 7 Years Old

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a little fluffy drabble, really

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Characters featured in this chapter: [Helen](http://theseventeenfamilysingers.tumblr.com/post/148179238654/character-introduction-helen), [Charles](http://theseventeenfamilysingers.tumblr.com/post/148179403204/character-introduction-charles), [Harvey & Sandra, and Delia & Jennifer](http://theseventeenfamilysingers.tumblr.com/post/149869420289/so-who-and-how-are-the-grandparents-btw-this)

Helen was sitting at the kitchen table drawing the cover for the story she had just written for class. It was about a girl who becomes a world famous superstar. It was pretty genius, she thought. She had been working on it forever and hadn’t been allowed to play until it was finished.   
She put the finishing touches on the girl’s beautiful red dress.  
“Done!” she exclaimed, startling Delia who had been in the process of washing some lettuce in the sink. “Now can I go out and play?”  
Delia sighed. “Fine, but dinner’s in a half hour.”  
Helen hopped up from the table and ran out the door, story in hand. When she got to Charles’ front door, she knocked vigorously. She was so proud of her story she could not wait to show Charles and to see what he wrote.   
“Oh, Helen! Come on in, Charles is in his r-” Helen didn’t wait for the woman to finish her sentence, she just walked in past her. She knew where Charles was. She kicked off her shoes and ran up the carpeted steps, bursting through the bedroom door.  
“Did you finish your story yet?” she said as she walked in, making Charles jump in his seat.  
“Come on, Helen! You made me mess up!” He said annoyed, colored pencil still in hand.  
“Lemme see!” she reached out to grab it from the desk in front of him.  
“It’s not done!”  
She sat down on his bed and breathed out impatiently. She waited what must have been at least two years for him to finish. Finally he put his pencil down and went to sit next to her on the bed. As soon as it was within her reach, she grabbed his story out of his hand.  
“Read mine” She said, shoving her story into his hand. He read it, out loud as she watched intently. He nodded and smiled at different parts.   
“That was really awesome, Helen. I wish mine was that good”  
“Stop being such a silly, I bet it’s really good” She looked down at his story for the first time since grabbing it. It had a drawing of a girl in a blue dress, holding a sword, with a yellow flower in her hair. Above the drawing it said: The realy awsum princess.   
The story was about a princess who was the prettiest girl in the world and also the strongest fighter. She wore pretty dresses and loved to sing, but she also loved going out on her horse and slaying dragons with her sword. She didn’t wear any armor because she was too powerful to ever get hurt, and she always wore a yellow flower in her hair.


	5. 10 Years Old

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Helen and Charles take a trip to the lake

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Characters featured in this chapter: [Helen](http://theseventeenfamilysingers.tumblr.com/post/148179238654/character-introduction-helen), and [Charles](http://theseventeenfamilysingers.tumblr.com/post/148179403204/character-introduction-charles)

“I’m bored” Helen said, lying on her back with her feet dangling off her mothers’ bed.   
Charles, lying next to her, just sighed. Helen turned over dramatically to face him, attempting to force him to come up with ideas.  
“We could run through the sprinklers” He suggested  
“We did that yesterday”  
“Um… we could…. Play hide and seek”  
“We did that today”   
“We could go down to the lake and feed the ducks”

 

As they walked down to the lake, the grass tickled their ankles.  
“There better not be bugs in the grass like last time or I’ll scream.” Helen warned.  
“Oohh well too bad for you because I heard that the grass is full of gross slimy worms and horrible scary spiders, and centipedes that use all their tiny legs to climb up under your pants” Charles teased, making hand gestures and silly faces to accentuate the horror.  
“Shut up!” Helen was pretending to not be scared, but a minute later she did yelp when she thought she saw movement next to her foot.  
As they approached the lake with their bag of bread, the ducks all swam up to the little dock. The two children went to the end and sat, dangling their feet over the water. They threw bread at the ducks, laughing when they made silly noises.   
When the bag was empty and the ducks had gone, they both lay back in much the same position as earlier on the bed. The sun had started to set and the sky was a vibrant orange. They looked up at it together in silence, apart from the chirping of the crickets. Their hands were on the dock only inches apart. They used to hold hands a lot as young children, but as they got older it just seemed … different. Charles started sneaking glances at Helen nervously.  
“What?” She said, after the third time.  
“Nothing, I...uh...have a question…”  
“ok”  
Charles looked back up at the sky and started breathing nervously.   
“So… are you going to ask me the question or did you just want me to know that you had it?” Helen was getting impatient.  
Charles flushed. “So um… I just….think you’re really….um….pretty….and um …. Smart….and I like you um... a lot….and um… I was just wondering if…. we um….. Could be…. Boyfriendandgirlfriend” He said the last part very quickly and immediately sucked in a breath, eyes still facing the sky.  
Helen laughed and grabbed his hand. Then she turned and placed a kiss right on the center of his blushing cheek.


	6. 12 years old: part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Halloween dance is three weeks away, and Helen and Charles are ready to have a romantic night, but unnecessary secrets cause a rift in their relationship.

 Characters featured in this chapter:Helen, and [Charles](http://theseventeenfamilysingers.tumblr.com/post/148179403204/character-introduction-charles)

 

Helen stepped down from the ladder and read the banner. “6th Grade Halloween Dance: October 31st, 5:00pm.” She and the other members of the student council had worked on it for a week, and thanks to her impeccable eye for design, it was perfect. No one else had thought to use black glitter, but it really made the banner. That’s why she was the class president.

Charles walked up behind her and put his arm around her shoulder. It was at a bit of an awkward angle, due to the fact that he hadn’t hit his growth spurt yet, and was therefore a good seven inches shorter than Helen. She didn’t mind, though, he would get there.

“So… got a date yet?” he joked.

“Me? Well… I mean… I’ve definitely gotten some offers.”

“Naturally. Any promising?”

“Not yet… but you know… I have very high standards.” She had trouble holding back her smile.

“If that was a short joke I do not appreciate it, Helen.”

She burst out laughing.

“Well,” she said when she composed herself. “If you don’t plan on asking me to the dance then you better move along. I’m very busy.”

“Alright, alright. Here”

He handed her a small box with a note taped to it. The note read:

_Helen, would you please go to the dance with me?_

_Love,_

_Charles_

“Of course I will, silly!” She said with a grin.

She opened up the box to find a corsage, covered with red and orange flowers.

“It’s beautiful! I love it!” she exclaimed.

“You better. You’re the one who picked it out.”

“Oh, shush, you know you wouldn’t know which one to get, your taste is horrendous.”

“With the exception of my taste in girlfriends.” He kissed her cheek and she flushed.

They’d been dating for two years, but they hadn’t kissed on the mouth yet. They had been too young, but now they both thought that they were definitely old enough to take their relationship to the next level, and they had decided that October 31st would be the night. They both insisted that it had to be perfect, as they would be describing it to their children later in life, so Helen made sure that everything about the dance would be impeccable and romantic, despite it being Halloween-themed.

“You ready to go?” Charles asked her. He had been waiting for her club to finish up so they could walk home together, like they did every day.

“Yeah. Just let me get my stuff from my locker.”

“I can get it, you wait here.”

She knew he was going to say that. That’s how it went everyday. She would say she needed to get her stuff and he went to get it for her, like any gentleman would do.

In this instance, her locker was only six feet away from them, so it wasn’t much of a challenge for Charles. He entered her locker combination, which he had long since memorized, and opened Helen’s beautifully decorated locker. The inside of the door had a magnetic basket, and above that, a framed picture of Charles. The frame was decorated with an extensive amount of magenta glitter.

Charles grabbed Helen’s stuff, swinging her baby blue backpack over his shoulder, on the opposite side as his own navy one. He wasn’t exactly a professional bodybuilder, so he was pretty weighed down by the two bags. Despite this, he always managed to also hold Helen’s hand the whole way home.

 

Later that night they were talking on the phone about their costumes. They had already decided weeks ago that they’d be Romeo and Juliet. It was a little cliche, but they wanted it to be romantic. Helen’s mothers were very enthusiastic about it, and had been working hard to make sure Helen was the prettiest girl there.

Her dress was breathtaking. It was hanging in her closet, ready to be worn. She hadn’t shown Charles yet; she wanted to surprise him on the night of. She hadn’t seen his outfit yet either, and she was a little worried. She loved Charles, but he was sometimes a little lacking in the fashion department.

They had been talking on the phone for fifty minutes, and had moved on to talking about their classes and friends. Charles didn’t have female friends, and Helen didn’t have male friends. It wasn’t something they ever decided together, but Charles knew that him having female friends made Helen insecure, and all of Helen’s male friends just ended up having crushes on her.

“Hey…” Charles started. “Did you mean it when you said that other guys had asked you to the dance?”

“Yeah, only a few though.”

“And you said no.”

“Obviously.”

“But…Why would they ask you? Everyone knows you and I are boyfriend and girlfriend.”

“I don’t know, they’re probably just jerks. Why don’t you come over? I’m bored.”

“Ok… it’ll be a little while, though, my parents are arguing in the front hall. I’ll have to sneak out the back.”

“I’ll send Monica to distract them” With that, Helen hung up the phone and walked to her sisters room.

“Hi Helen.” Monica said, without turning around from the dollhouse.

“Hey. I need you to distract Charles’ parents.”

“For how long?”

“I don’t know. Five minutes. Make sure to speak loudly so Charles knows you’re there.”

“Front door or back door?”

“Front.”

Monica was only seven, but she was a devious, sneaky genius. She could manipulate anyone into thinking or doing anything, and she seemed to enjoy it. Helen was glad that her sister was so loyal to family, she did not want to be on the receiving end of that cold, calculative mind.

The little girl put her doll down and stood up. Helen went back to her room, trusting that her sister would get the job done, and sure enough, exactly seven minutes later Charles slipped through her bedroom door.

“You know,” Helen teased. “You really should knock. What if I was naked.”

Charles flushed deeply.

“Why would you be naked if you knew I was coming over?” He tried to seem casual, but he was notably fidgeting .

“I don’t know, I’m just kidding.” Helen said, moving over on her bed to make room for Charles. He sat next to her and extended his legs so that their feet were overlapping. She sighed and scooched closer, so their sides were touching and she was resting her head on his shoulder. It wasn’t sexual or anything. They had always laid in bed together. They had a level of closeness and intimacy that allowed them to be completely comfortable casually touching, something that usually made kids their age uneasy.

They lay together quietly for a few minutes, just enjoying each other’s company. Then Charles broke the silence.

“So… who exactly asked you to the dance?”

“Why? Are you going to challenge them to fights.”

Charles made a face at her. “No. I’m just wondering.”

“It was Nate Foster--” Charles scoffed, Nate had had a crush on Helen since they were kids. “--Tommy Gilmore, and Tim Owens.”

“Tim Owens?!” Charles turned to face Helen. “He’s an eighth-grader, and also like… the coolest guy in school. He’s almost six feet tall!”

“So?” Helen shrugged.

“He’d be a way better date to the dance. He’s probably good at dancing, and he’s taller so you wouldn’t have to lead, and he’s probably even kissed on the mouth before, lots of times.”

“I don’t care. I don’t like him. Plus, he’s a jerk if he’d ask a girl out when she already has a boyfriend.”

Charles’ eyes fell. “It’s just that… all my friends say that you’re out of my league, and that once hotter guys start asking you out you’ll realize that you could do better and dump me…” He trailed off, eyes getting a little watery.

Helen slapped him on the forearm.

“Ow! What the hell, Helen?”

“How many times do I have to tell you not to hang around with stupid people?” She shook her head in disapproval. “What’s their average grade?”

“Umm… I don’t know.”

“Well good thing I do. Your friends’ grades average out at a B-”

“How do you know that?”

“I know everyone’s grade averages. And do you know what my average is?”

“A+”

“Yes, A+, so who are you going to believe? A bunch of stupid B- boys, or your super smart girlfriend?”

“Um… my super smart girlfriend?”

“Correct. Now stop being an idiot.” she snuggled closer and he put his arm around her, smiling.

 

Three days later, Helen was at lunch, talking with her friends about the dance. They had all found dates and were just waiting for Halloween. Only three weeks to go. Usually, Charles would come over and say hi to her and then sit with the boys, but it had been ten minutes since lunch started and he still hadn’t entered the cafeteria. She decided to go interrogate the boys, although she really didn’t like talking to them; they were so stupid. They all turned to face her as she approached the head of the table.

“Where’s Charles?” It was really more of a command than a question.

“Oh, don’t you know?” one of the boys snickered.

“He’s with his _new_ girlfriend.” another one said.

“What are you idiots talking about?” Helen was getting angry.

“You know, Amy? She’s from England. Charles was assigned to be her guide and they’re getting along very well.” The boy dragged out the last two words, mocking Helen.

“Oh?” A third boy said, smiling evilly. “Did he not tell you about her? Weird that he would hide something like that…”

Helen had heard enough, she needed to go back to her table and think.

“Bye, losers.” She said, with more than a little malice in her voice.

On her way back to her table, she stopped. She wasn’t stupid enough to believe the boys

without proof. Any foreign exchange students spent the first week eating with their guide in the guidance office, and that’s where Helen would go. She spun on her heel and marched out of the cafeteria doors.

On her way there she thought about what this meant. If Charles really was there with this Amy girl, then he really was her guide like the boys said. But why hadn’t he told her about it? Was he trying to hide her? Why? Was he really cheating on her? How could he do that? They’d been together for two whole years.

As she rounded the corner of the main hallway she realized that she didn’t have a plan. She couldn’t just bust in there demanding explanations, she would seem crazy. Well, she’d just have to make it up as she went along. She walked into the waiting room and up to the secretary’s desk.

“Ah, Helen! How can I help you today? Everything alright?”

“Oh, yes Ms.Rosen. I was just wondering if I could speak to the counselor. I observed some troubling behavior earlier today and I would like to talk to him about it.”

“Of course, let me just go get him.” She got up from the desk and walked to the counselor’s office. This was Helen’s chance, she snuck behind the secretary so she would have a clear view once the door was open, but she’d still be hidden by the woman’s rather large body.

As the door opened, Helen held her breath. Peeking in, she barely contained a gasp. There he was; Charles, sitting at the table laughing with some pretty blonde girl. She even dared to give him a bite of her sandwich.

Helen was livid, but the counselor had gotten up and was leaving the room, so she had to compose herself. She schooled her features into an innocent smile and greeted the man. He ushered her into the spare office in the next room and they sat down at the small table.

“What seems to be the problem, Helen?” The man had kind eyes, and Helen didn’t want to lie to him, but now she had an opportunity for some payback.

“I saw some of the boys spying on the girls bathroom.”

“What?! Who would do such a thing?”

She listed off the boys she had spoken to in the cafeteria. The man promised he would do something about it, and told her not to worry. This small act of revenge was satisfying, but it didn’t settle the anger boiling deep in her gut.

 

When school got out, Helen waited at the main doors instead of going directly to club. She hated being late, but she had important business to attend to. She had waited ten minutes when she finally caught sight of the blonde girl, and, to her surprise, Charles was with her. Helen ducked behind a column and watched them chat and laugh together. She was planning to just talk to Amy, introduce herself and make it clear that Charles was taken and if they were going to keep their friendship, Amy would have to respect that, but this was unacceptable. Helen was already angry, but that anger turned into a murderous rage when the unthinkable happened. Amy hugged him, and worse, Charles hugged back. Helen wanted to march up to them and slap them both in their stupid faces, but she looked at Charles and knew that, however angry she was, she couldn’t hurt him. So she watched him walk back into the building, surely going to the library to do his homework while he waited for Helen’s club to be over.

The blonde girl was now standing alone to the left of the doors. It was Helen’s chance. She marched out from her hiding spot to where Amy was standing. She didn’t notice her for a second but when she did she smiled. This took Helen by surprise.

“‘’Ello!” The girl said cheerfully, her accent so charming it made Helen feel ill. “You must be Helen. Charles showed me pictures of you. I’m Amy, pleasure to meet you.” She held her hand out to shake. Helen refused it.

“If only I could say the same.” Amy looked confused so Helen continued. “Charles is _my_ boyfriend, so _back off_ ” She narrowed her eyes.

“I know!” Amy said. “I don’t want to date Charles. We’re just friends, honest!”

“Listen to me, Amy. I can get you sent back to where you came from. Even worse, I can make your life here so bad that you wished you’d never left England at all. I am very powerful. If you don’t believe me you can ask around, but I warn you: do not test me. It would be a very unfortunate mistake.”

Amy’s eyes were wide with fear. Something about Helen’s demeanor made her certain that the girl was not lying.

“Understood?” Helen asked.

Amy just nodded.

“Good. Now I have to go, I’m late for club.” With that, Helen turned on her heel and left Amy to think about what she had said. She hoped the girl had listened to her, for both of their sakes.

 

The next morning was completely normal. It wasn’t until lunch that the consequences of Helen’s actions came into effect. Charles was fifteen minutes late to lunch, and when he walked in he looked very upset. Helen tried to approach him to ask what was wrong, expecting him to hug her and tell her about how his friend rejected him, but that’s not what happened. Instead, he dodged her and refused to look at her. He just walked up to the front and bought his lunch and stormed out of the cafeteria with it. Helen followed him out calling to him but he just walked away faster.

He finally stopped after he had exited the school and walked all the way to the baseball dugout. Helen followed him there and when she stepped down into the green booth he finally looked at her. His eyes looked red, as if he’d been crying, but his face didn’t look sad, it looked angry.

“How could you?” He spat at her.

“What do you mean?” Helen’s voice came out sounding much more upset than she meant it to.

“Amy told me what you did.” Helen tried to speak but Charles interrupted her before she had a chance. “Why would you do that, Helen? Don’t you trust me? Amy was my _friend_. Don’t you care about me? Do you even care about anyone but yourself?” Tears were welling up in both their eyes.

“Of course I care about you! I just…” Helen trailed off. She was properly crying now.

“You just what? Huh? Save it. And you know what?” He took a step closer. “You can find another date to the dance. I’m breaking up with you.” He wiped tears from his eyes and stormed off.

Helen collapsed, not caring that her pants were getting dirty. She sat there until the bell rang, signalling the end of lunch. She got up, walking in the direction of the girls’ bathroom to clean herself up. As she walked away, the puddle of tears she left behind started to soak into the dirt. By the time she got back to the school they’d have disappeared completely.

After school that day, Helen walked home alone for the first time ever, slowed by the weight of her backpack.


End file.
